Border Wall Could Be Funded for Less than Two Percent of Omnibus Bill

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images23 Mar 2018

Earlier this week, Congress approved a $1.3 trillion omnibus bill to fund the federal government. But despite the bill’s huge cost, it did not include full funding for a wall across the United States’ southern border, even though it would have cost less than two percent of the bill’s total.

The Trump administration has asked for $25 billion to fund the border wall in its entirety. As a percentage of $1.3 trillion – the total cost of the omnibus bill – this amounts to just 1.92 percent of the total.

But Congress granted just $1.6 billion in border wall finance, which amounts to a paltry 0.12 percent.

President Trump is now threatening to veto the bill on the grounds that it does not provide a deal for border wall funding. Trump has repeatedly offered to tie border wall funding to a deal on DACA reform, but the Democrats have so far refused his offer.

I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.